Distracted drivers or automated cars article (vehicle, GPS, fuel, highway)

[Sayantsi]

Interesting article on which you'd rather deal with on today's roads, and why automated vehicles are needed sooner rather than later...

Automatic Cars Or Distracted Drivers: We Need Automation Sooner, Not Later - jnd.org

[jtur88]

I can remember when there were neither. You had to concentrate on so many things to self-drive a car, you had no time to be distracted.

[victimofGM]

"IF" everything works perfectly on self driving vehicles, crashes and fuel economies will drop like a rock. For example, a self driving car entering the interstate highway will communicate with other self driving vehicles. As the vehicle hits the on ramp, other self driving vehicles on the highway will form a merge gap to allow the oncoming vehicle in. These groups of self driving vehicles will travel like a train with the cars being inches away from each others bumpers reducing wind resistance. When a vehicle in the train needs to exit, the exiting vehicle will create a gap between it and the vehicle in front of it to allow space to exit. The rest of the vehicles in the train will make small speed compensations to re-establish the train. In city driving, it will create a communication network detailing traffic congestion numbers to help vehicles change travel route to more evenly distribute the congestion. The network can also work to find the quickest or most fuel efficient route when traffic is light.

The above is a "perfect world" situation. Modern GPS devices are still directing drivers towards dead end streets, lakes, off a cliff, or just plain wrong directions. Self parking systems still require driver's input in setting up for the park. For the "perfect world" situation all these systems need to be perfected and the majority of the vehicles on the road need to be self driving capable. The fear I have is with such a network of vehicle communication, this would be an open invitation for hackers to create havoc by taking over vehicles in one way or another.